An Open Letter to Fellow Musicians, Fans, and Friends

Dear Friends,THANK YOU ALL for your interest, support, recommendations, ideas, encouragement, friendship, and so much more. Thank you for your messages about how music has touched you and others (and in some cases, how one of my pieces has made a difference for good.) As you know, I no longer am in the music sheet music business, but before all the alarms go off, please know that you can still find most of the long-time favorites online. Because of many inquiries, here is the short list: holysheetmusic.com, jackmanmusic.com, sheetmusicplus.com, jwpepper.com, and the three pieces published through Neil A. Kjos are available through any music retailer by ordering them. Here are the youtube links to the Kjos pieces: “May the Lord Bless You and Keep You”, “For the Beauty of the Earth”, and “The Songs They Sang that Night”.

I’ve also received a LOT of inquiries wondering why I’m really pulling the plug on 450 pieces of music. But first, please understand I’m stating simple fact. No accusations, no anger, no finger pointing. I’m pulling the plug on 13 books of music and nearly 450 pieces of music because of illegal photocopying and music piracy. I can’t compete. It’s just too easy for people to buy a copy and make additional illegal photocopies. And while this problem has gotten somewhat better through the past few years, it’s still problematic in the sheet music business. So I’m headed in a different direction. The remaining few thousand of my books of music are mostly damaged from storage, and will go to the shredder. No regrets. It’s been a valuable and wonderful journey.

I went through 15 years of incredible difficulty, including a suicide attempt, homelessness (while working 60-70 hours at a full-time and part-time jobs), mental illness, loss of family and friends, divorce, and much more. I have no regrets for a minute of it because I learned how to become a better person, how find happiness, and how to pay it forward. So I am. I have started a nonprofit production company, Under the Sun Productions, Inc., that produces musical and theatrical works and then donates a portion of ticket sales back to homeless charities. "Artaban, the Other Wise Man, the Musical" was our first project, and we are preparing for the 2018 holiday season with improvements and upgrades.

Last of all, thank you again, for your ongoing interest, encouragement, messages, and contact. Please keep in touch.